Posti Group

Posti Group Corporation
Native name	Finnish: Posti Group Oyj; Swedish: Posti Group Abp
Company type	Julkinen osakeyhtiö
Industry	Postal service, logistics, financial process automation
Founded	6 September 1638; 386 years ago
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Revenue	€1.652 billion (2022)
Owner	Government of Finland
Number of employees	20,316 (2017 on average)
Website	posti.com

Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is the sole shareholder of the company. Posti has a universal service obligation that entails weekday deliveries of letters in all of Finland's municipalities. Posti's head office is located in Pohjois-Pasila in Helsinki. Posti's history spans nearly 400 years.

The Finnish company is divided into three business groups: Postal Services, Parcel and Logistics Services, and OpusCapita. Posti's net sales in 2016 amounted to EUR 1,647 million. Posti has 20,300 employees. Of the net sales, approximately 96% comes from businesses and organizations. The company's key customer sectors are commerce, services and media.

As of 2015^[update], the group is headed by Heikki Malinen, and Arto Markku Pohjola is Chairman of the Board of Directors. The company has operations in ten countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and United States. Åland Post is the independent postal operator for the Åland Islands.

Operations

Postal Services handles the delivery of letters, direct mail, and newspapers and magazines in Finland through its subsidiary Posti Oy. Delivery personnel also offer check-in and assistance services for the elderly, and in 2016 ran a pilot program offering lawn mowing.^[3] Home services help public and private home care providers be more efficient and flexible in producing their services

Parcel and Logistics Services offers parcel and e-commerce services, transport services, international road, air, sea and rail freight services, warehousing or supplementary services and customs clearance services.

OpusCapita provides financial process automation. OpusCapita has operations in eight European countries (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden) and a network of international partners covering the globe.

Historical background

On 6 September 1638, Governor-General Per Brahe the Younger established postal services in Finland, part of the Kingdom of Sweden at the time.
- The Posti headquarters in Helsinki (Postintaival) have their main auditorium named after Brahe and his portrait by David Beck.
In 1811, a central postal administration was established within the postal services of autonomous Finland.
In 1845, postal service for parcels began.
In 1856, stamps were introduced. (Finland began issuing its own national stamps in autumn 1917, before independence was declared on 6 December 1917.)
In 1858, home delivery of letters and newspapers began.
Posti was one of the first institutions to hire women as employees, doing so since the 1860s.
In 1927, the Telegraph was merged with the Finnish Post (Posti).

In 1981, Post and Telegraph was renamed Post and Telecommunications.
In 1990, Posti-Tele became a state-owned enterprise no longer dependent on the state budget.
In 1994, Post and Telecommunications became Suomen PT Oy, with the subsidiaries Finland Post Corporation, providing postal services, and Telecom Finland Oy (later Sonera Oy), engaged in telecommunications.
In 1998, Suomen PT Group was demerged. Finland Post Corporation and Sonera Oy became state-owned enterprises.
In 2001, Finland Post became a public company (as Finland Post Corporation).
On 1 June 2007, the company's name was changed to Itella Corporation. The group's more diversified and internationalised business operations were the reason for the change of name.
In 2008, Itella acquired in Russia the logistics company NLC (National Logistic Company) and Connexions company, specialising in direct marketing services. In Poland Itella acquired BusinessPoint S.A., specialising in printing and document management.
In 2011, Finnish postal services have been transferred to a new company, Itella Posti Oy.
In 2011, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita expanding services to cash flow automation.
Itella Bank started as a deposit bank in the beginning of 2012.
In 2013, Itella divested the entire share capital of Itella Bank Ltd to Finnish Savings Bank Group.
In 2013, Itella Information was renamed OpusCapita. It operates as a subgroup of Itella Group.

On 1 January 2015, Itella Oyj changed its name to Posti Group Oyj. Subsidiaries Itella Posti Oy and Itella Logistics Oy were merged and renamed to Posti Oy.
In 2015, Posti sold its Scandinavian road freight business operations to the Danish Nordic Transport Group (NTG).
Posti launched the first municipal cooperation within Posti's new home services with the South Karelia Social and Health Care District Eksote.
Posti acquired Kuljetus Kovalainen and Veine, a company specializing in temperature-regulated logistics.

Postal Services

Domestic postal services were centralized in Posti Oy. Posti has more than 1,400 service points: post offices, of which most are in conjunction with companies run by local entrepreneurs, Parcel Points, and pick-up outlets. There are SmartPOST automatic parcel terminals also in Estonia.

As of February 2011, Finland will be the first country in the world to receive all letters, publications, packages and direct advertisements through carbon-neutral delivery by Posti. This does not involve any extra fees to the customers.

Posti Group is solely responsible for providing postal services. In its current form, the Post Act entered into force in 2011. By virtue of this act, postal services must be provided on a permanent basis and for reasonable prices to all users, throughout the country. In each municipality there must be at least one outlet providing postal services.

The responsibility for the general steering and development of postal services belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Also the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, acting under this ministry, participates in the development of postal services. Among its tasks are monitoring to ensure that the Act on Postal Services and its regulations and provisions are complied with, as well as handling customer feedback.

The basic mail delivery is open to competition and some companies are starting to deliver business letters in populated areas.

International operations

In 2016, Posti established a network of pickup points in the Baltic countries. In 2020, Posti bought the Swedish logistics company Aditro Logistics.

Wages

According to Taloussanomat, Posti Group CEO Heikki Malinen compensation increased 65% in four years to €990,000 in 2019.^[4] Heikki Malinen resigned on 2 October 2019.^[5]

A strike stopped letters and packets delivery in Finland and from abroad on 11–27 November 2019. The Posti management wanted to reduce salaries 30–50%. The Rinne government denied wage dumping.^[6] The minister in charge, Sirpa Paatero, resigned on 29 November 2019.^[7]

Revenue

According to Finnish Television New MOT Posti made during 2008–2015 over €170 million losses in logistic business when traditional postal services made €500 million profit. Since 2016 Posti does not specify the logistics financial values of company.^[8]

References

^ "Posti Group 2022: Sales and profitability grew. Successful peak season execution resulted in strong Q4 profitability", www.posti.com
^ "Posti's Key Figures". Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
^ "Finland's Postal Service Will Mow Your Lawn". NPR.
^ Omistajaohjausministeri Paatero tarttui tiukasti Postiin: Työehtokiistaan aikalisä, johtajien palkkoihin "merkittävä" muutos Postin hallitukselle ministeri Paateron puuttuminen "tuli jossain mielessä yllätyksenä", keskustelua käyty aiemminkin YLE 3 September 2019
^ Postin tiedotustilaisuus - toimitusjohtaja erosi YLE 2 October 2019
^ Finländsk minister avgår efter poststrejken Svensk tv text 29 November 2019
^ Minister Paatero resigns over Posti outsourcing scandal YLE 29 November 2019
^ MOT selvitti: Epäonnistuneita yrityskauppoja ja epäreilua hintakilpailua – näin Posti hukkasi miljooniaan YLE 25 November 2019

External links

Official website (in English)

[1] "Posti Group 2022: Sales and profitability grew. Successful peak season execution resulted in strong Q4 profitability", www.posti.com

[2] "Posti's Key Figures". Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.

[3] "Finland's Postal Service Will Mow Your Lawn". NPR.

[4] Omistajaohjausministeri Paatero tarttui tiukasti Postiin: Työehtokiistaan aikalisä, johtajien palkkoihin "merkittävä" muutos Postin hallitukselle ministeri Paateron puuttuminen "tuli jossain mielessä yllätyksenä", keskustelua käyty aiemminkin YLE 3 September 2019

[5] Postin tiedotustilaisuus - toimitusjohtaja erosi YLE 2 October 2019

[6] Finländsk minister avgår efter poststrejken Svensk tv text 29 November 2019

[7] Minister Paatero resigns over Posti outsourcing scandal YLE 29 November 2019

[8] MOT selvitti: Epäonnistuneita yrityskauppoja ja epäreilua hintakilpailua – näin Posti hukkasi miljooniaan YLE 25 November 2019

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